Research and
Publications

My
research profile is characterized by a multidisciplinary
approach to topics and methods that advance our
understanding of music as human behavior. I'm enthusiastic
about the psychological aspects of musical engagement:
moods, emotions, personality, development, and well-being.
I currently lead the following project, funded by
the Academy of Finland:

This 5-year research
project investigates music-related emotional competence
(including emotion recognition, expression, and
regulation) as the underlying mechanism connecting music
to adolescent well-being. A longitudinal study and a range
of experiments are conducted to study how these
competencies develop and relate to adolescents' mental
health. This interdisciplinary project utilizes a range of
cutting-edge methodologies from listening tests and
psychometric measures to motion capture techniques and
physiological (e.g., heart rate variability) and
neuroimaging measures (EEG). Valuable information about
the role of the emotional aspects of musical behavior will
be provided for music psychology, music education, nursing
sciences, and music therapy.

Saarikallio, S. & O’Brien, R. (2014).
Fostering the musical skills of children and their
teachers through a newly designed music program. In Proceedings
of the Early Childhood Music Education Seminar,
Brasilia, Brazil, July 14-18, 2014.

McFerran,
K. & Saarikallio,
S. (2013). Depending on music to feel better:
Being conscious of responsibility when appropriating the
power of music, The
Arts in Psychotherapy, 41 (1), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aip.2013.11.007

Saarikallio,
S.
(2009). Emotional
self-regulation
through music in 3-8-year-old children. Proceedings
of the 7thTriennial Conference of European Society
for the Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM
2009), August 12th-16th, Jyväskylä, Finland.

Saarikallio,
S.
(2008) Cross-cultural investigation of adolescents’ use
of music for mood regulation. Proceedings
of the 10th International Conference on Music
Perception and Cognition, 25th -29th
August 2008, Sapporo, Japan.

2007:

Saarikallio,
S.
& Erkkilä, J. (2007). The Role of Music in
Adolescents’ Mood Regulation. Psychology
of Music, 35 (1), 88-109.

2006:

Saarikallio,
S.
(2006). The Strategies for Regulating Mood by Musical
Activities in Adolescence. Proceedings
of the 21st International Seminar on Research in Music
Education, 16-21st July 2006, Bali,
Indonesia.

Saarikallio,
S. (2006). Differences in adolescents’ use of
music in mood regulation. Proceedings
of the 9th International Conference on Music
Perception and Cognition, 22nd -26th August
2006, Bologna, Italy.

2005:

Saarikallio,
S. (2005).
Regulation and Gratification: The Emotional Meanings of
Music in Adolescence. Proceedings
of the First European Conference on Developmental
Psychology of Music, 17-19 November 2005,
Jyväskylä, Finland.

Laiho,
S.
(2004). The psychological functions of music in
adolescence. Nordic Journal of Music Therapy, 13 (1), pp.49-65.

Laiho,
S. (2004). The psychological functions of music
in the everyday life of adolescents. Proceedings
of the 8th International Conference on Music
Perception and Cognition 3-7th August 2004,
Evanston, Illinois, USA.

Laiho, S.
(2004). The Psychological Goals for Engaging in Music in
Adolescence. Proceedings
of the 6th European music Therapy Congress
16-20th June 2004, Jyväskylä, Finland.

Saarikallio, S.
(2011, March). Mood regulation through music. In the SysMusDay
– The how and why of music, Graz, Austria.
Keynote lecture. (24.3.2011)

Symposia
organized
at international conferences:

Saarikallio,
S. (2012). Emotion regulation through music:
understanding the mechanisms, individual differences,
and situational influences. In the 12th International
Conference on Music Perception and Cognition
(ICMPC 2010), Thessaloniki, Greece.

Saarikallio, S.
(2010). Music as affect regulation in everyday life. The
11th International
Conference on Music Perception and Cognition
(ICMPC 2010), August 23-27, Seattle, USA.

Saarikallio, S.
(2009). Music and well-being in different contexts. In the
7th Triennial Conference of European Society for the
Cognitive Sciences of Music (ESCOM 2009), 12th
– 16th August, Jyväskylä, Finland.